MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

7/27 Normal day for Dempster

Ryan Dempster threw on the side Friday, hit with the Cubs pitchers, and then joined his teammates in the outfield during batting practice. It was a normal day for the right-hander, who has had anything but normal days leading up to Tuesday’s Trade Deadline. Dempster (5-5, 2.25 ERA) is on track to make his next start, which would be Tuesday, just a few hours after the Trade Deadline. He’s been one of the top targets this season.

“I think there’s no question it’s going to weigh on you a little bit,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of the distractions of the rumors. “Everybody’s human.”

Whether Dempster goes is his call. He has 10 years in the big leagues, five with the same team, which allows him veto power over any deal. That may sound selfish, but it’s the players’ rights.

“Fortunately for Dempster, he’s got the 10-and-5 rights, and for whatever reason, people don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes and all the reasons why you accept and why you don’t,” Sveum said. “It’s an unfortunate thing that [people] jump to conclusions. He’s one of the most class guys you’ll ever be around and [good] teammate and obviously very productive when he goes out there every five days, too. It’s one of those things where you’re good if you, good if you don’t, and it’s a tough situation to be in.”

Sveum isn’t pushing for a trade.

“We’re only going to be a better team with him on the field all year,” Sveum said.

Dempster and Sveum didn’t agree on Wednesday, which was Dempster’s last start. He was pulled after 93 pitches over six innings, and trailing, 3-2 against the Pirates. Dempster threw a cooler lid, then slammed the cooler and threw a water bottle in the dugout. The two talked later.

“Players have the right to do things and snap and those things happen,” Sveum said. “It’s not all just because of one thing or because he got taken out of a game. It’s a very competitive sport and there’s a lot of reasons why some guys all of a sudden don’t have a good day. We had a good talk and everything’s good.”

2 Comments

Cubs still have options on Ryan. As I see it, Ryan will not want to start that next game at Wrigley. At the 11th hour, he will tell Theo to make the trade. Or, he will tell Sveum he has a tummy ache and cannot pitch. Then go on the DL for the rest of the year.

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